“The Covenant of Circumcision”

Genesis 17

Everything belongs to someone. Everything in this world is owned by somebody.

In our culture, we have different ways of showing this: when you buy a house or a piece
of property, you get a title stating that it belongs to you. When you buy a car, you are
given a title called a pink slip to show that it’s legally yours. When two people get married
they give each other a ring which symbolizes the covenant they make to love each other
and keep themselves for each other as long as they live. When we have children, the
hospital records that birth and makes out a birth certificate to indicate that those children
belong to us and to our family. When a child buys a bicycle, or receives one as a gift, he
goes down to the fire department to get a license for it, which not only shows that it
belongs to him, but also helps get it back in case someone steals it. Ranchers brand their
cattle with their mark to show that they own them. Everything belongs to someone, and
many of these things are marked in a special way to show that they do. But at the same
time we need to realize that everyone also belongs to someone, not only husbands and
wives and children, but everyone. We all belong to God. God made everyone on the face
of the earth – everyone who has ever lived, everyone who is alive now, and everyone who
ever will live – and for that reason alone God owns us. His mark is also on us to show that
He does – He has stamped each one of us with His image. That’s what sets us apart from
the animals. But among all the people that God owns, He has also been pleased to set
apart some to a much closer relationship: a covenant relationship. He has a mark for this
as well. In the Old Covenant, it was called circumcision. In the New Covenant, it is called
baptism. This is the mark He put on us. It sets us apart from all the other people of the
earth to be God’s peculiar people, His covenant people. It reminds us and the world that
we belong to Him.
Now we have been looking at the different ways the Lord confirmed His covenant
with Abram – through God’s call, His promise, His wonderful preservation and victory
over four kings, a blessing from a priestly king, several renewals of the covenant and
through sacrifice. This evening we see the Lord institute a new sign and seal of His
covenant, a new sacrament that will be used for many years, until Christ comes: the
sacrament of circumcision. Circumcision was not only the sign of the covenant, it was also
one of the main ways the Lord kept His people separate from the world. As we examine
the institution of this sacrament this evening, and realize that baptism is meant to do
exactly the same thing in the New Covenant, let’s consider the privilege that baptism gives
to us, as well as the duty that it calls us to.
It has now been thirteen years since Ishmael had been born, and, it seems, since the
Lord had appeared to Abram. Sometimes I think we get the impression that in the Old
Covenant and in the New that the Lord was appearing to His people on a daily basis. But
it wasn’t that way. Certainly Abram spoke to God everyday in prayer, and the Lord also
spoke to Abram daily through His promises and required sacrifices. But He didn’t come
and speak to Abram personally everyday. But now the Lord again appears to him, saying,
“I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless” (v. 1). God Almighty, or as
we’re used to hearing it, El Shaddai, was the name the Lord used to reveal Himself to the
patriarchs. The Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them”
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(Ex. 6:3). Now it’s interesting that the patriarchs knew God’s covenant name, the name
Lord or Yahweh (see Gen. 9:26; 10:9; 12:8; 13:4, 18; 14:22; 15:2, 7), but they apparently
didn’t yet know its full implications. The Lord reserved this revelation for Moses when He
appeared to him in the burning bush as the great I Am (Ex. 3:14). He wanted Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob to know Him by the name El Shaddai, God Almighty, the One who is all-
sufficient, who is able to take care of His people and meet their needs. This name was to
give Abram the confidence he needed to trust in the Lord, even in His giving him a son so
long after he was past the age of children. He also called Abram to walk before Him –
which means that he was to have God ever before his eyes and on his heart – and to be
blameless or perfect – to walk in all the ways of His commandments, which are the same
things He calls us to do today through the Gospel. God has always required that those who
walk with Him walk in the light, that is, according to His Law (1 John 1:5-7). If we walk
in the darkness, He won’t be with us.
And now the Lord says to Abram, “I will establish My covenant between Me and
you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” He again renews His covenant with Abram,
His promise to give to him many children. When Abram heard this, he fell on his face to
do reverence to the Lord. And the Lord continued, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is
with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name
be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a
multitude of nations” (vv. 4-5). I like this part of Genesis, when we can stop using the
name Abram – which means exalted father – and begin using the name Abraham – which
means the father of a multitude. The fact that the Lord changed Abram’s name meant that
He had absolute sovereignty over him, just as Adam’s naming the animals meant that he
had sovereignty over them. And the fact that He changed his name to Abraham, or the
father of a multitude, meant that the Lord was further confirming His promise to give him
many children. The Lord explains what He meant further in verse 6, “And I will make you
exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you.”
Abraham was not only the father of the Israelites; he was also the father of the Ishmaelites,
the Midianites, and the Idumeans (the descendants of Esau). But beyond this, and far more
importantly, through the promised seed in the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ, he became the
father of a great host of spiritual children, of both Jews and Gentiles who would trust in the
Christ as their Lord and Savior. God also promised to establish His covenant with
Abraham’s children, to be God not only to him, but also to his children. This is the
greatest blessing that the covenant brings: to have the true God as your God and the God
of your children. Now we know from the Scripture that this covenant relationship the Lord
was speaking of here wasn’t necessarily a saving relationship, because there were many
Jews who were in covenant with God, but the vast majority of them were eventually lost
(Rom. 9:27). But it was certainly a relationship where they had access to the means of
grace, the means by which they might be saved, if they used them and the Lord was
pleased to save them through them. It is certainly far more advantageous with respect to
salvation to have the light of God’s Word than to grope around in darkness. God also
promised to give them the land. But again, this was conditioned on their obedience, just as
Abraham’s participation in the promise was based on his. We know this because when the
Israelites stopped obeying God, God took the land away from them by taking them away
into captivity. If we stopped obeying the Lord and turned away from Him, He would take
away our inheritance as well, at least that which we thought we had. But thankfully the
Lord, in His Gospel, not only commands us to do what’s right, He also gives us the ability
to do it through the Spirit of His Son. Ultimately, it won’t be through our righteousness
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that we will inherit the new heavens and the new earth – since it is always imperfect at best
– but through the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our works only show that we have
received His grace and the gracious presence of His Spirit in our lives.
But now comes the mark of ownership. The Lord gives Abraham a new sign, a
new sacrament, by which He sets him and his children apart from all the peoples of the
earth: the sign of circumcision. Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant grace, and a
seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:11). It is called the covenant that God is making
with Abraham because of the relationship that the Lord established between that sign and
the true grace it symbolized. This sacrament, like baptism, did not contain that grace, it
only offered it to those who had true and saving faith. Without faith, it is impossible to
please God (Heb. 11:6). Without faith, we can’t receive any good thing the Lord has for
us. This mark was to be applied to every male in Abraham’s household. Obviously the
women couldn’t receive it because it was something that could be done only to men. But
they were still included in the covenant, as long as they walked in obedience to the
commandments of God. Circumcision, it is believed, was chosen as the seal God would
use because of the fact that the Messiah was to be of the seed of Abraham. It was also a
picture of the necessity of the circumcision of the heart. Regeneration, or the new birth, in
the Old Covenant was pictured as the removal of the foreskin of the heart. This sign was
to constantly point them to the Messiah, whose work alone could remove sin from the
heart of man. Some also believe that it was a sign that the seed of Abraham who would
come and take away sin would Himself be sinless. But certainly it was a bloody sign to
show Abraham and his offspring the need of the shedding of blood in order that their
hearts might be made clean. There were many bloody ordinances in the Old Covenant
which pointed to the blood of Christ, circumcision included. But now that Christ has
come, He has done away with all of them. The only thing that remains now is the wine of
the Lord’s Supper which is meant to symbolize and remind us of the blood which Jesus
shed for the sins of His people.
Circumcision was to be applied to all the males in Abraham’s household, from 8
days old and older, whether they were free or servants, born in his house or bought. Every
male under his authority received it. And it was to be an everlasting covenant, which
either means that this covenant has been with God from all eternity – which it has, for all
things are eternally in His mind – or that it would continue forever – which it also does, not
in its typical form, but in its reality. Circumcision, we know from the Scripture, is no
longer valid, but its New Covenant counterpart is: baptism. And one day baptism will
also be done away with, but its reality, the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit, will
not.
The last thing He says about circumcision is that every male who was not
circumcised was to be cut off from his people. Those who willfully rejected being
circumcised, knowing that it was God’s command, were to be removed from the covenant
community, either by capital punishment, excommunication, or by the wrath of God. Even
Moses at one time had to face God’s anger for neglecting to circumcise his son (Ex. 4:25-
26). God takes the mark of His covenant very seriously, which is why we need to do so as
well.
Then the Lord confirmed His covenant with Sarai. He says for the first time that
the promised seed is going to come through her, and in order to reflect this, He changes her
name to Sarah, which means princess or noblewoman, for she would be the mother of
kings. When Abram heard this, he fell on his face and laughed. He said, “‘Will a child be
born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a
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child?’ And Abraham said to God, “‘Oh that Ishmael might live before You’” (vv. 17-18)!
Abraham appears not to have believed that God was serious. Certainly, humanly speaking,
it was impossible, for both of them were far past the age of having children. And so
Abraham prays that Ishmael might inherit the blessings. Abraham loved his son Ishmael,
enough to see him as the fulfillment of the promises. But this was because he did not yet
know Isaac. Sometimes we value the things we have more highly than the things we might
have, since they are all we know. This is why we sometimes may seem reluctant to let go
of what we have here, to pass on to our eternal inheritance. But we must learn to trust God
and His Word. What He has yet to give us is far better than anything we have received to
this point. But the Lord said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall
call his name Isaac [which means laughter]; and I will establish My covenant with him for
an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him” (v. 19). Once the Lord said this,
Abraham at once believed, and through faith knew that this was indeed how He was going
to fulfill the promise. It was through Isaac that the promised seed would come. Paul
writes, “In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many
nations, according to that which had been spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And
without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since
he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to
the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to
God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:18-22). But the Lord in
His mercy did not forget Ishmael. He heard Abraham’s prayer and said that He would
bless him and make him into a great nation. But His covenant He was going to establish
with Isaac.
When the Lord was finished speaking with Abraham, He withdrew His presence.
Then Abraham immediately obeyed the Lord by circumcising his son, all his male
servants, and even himself on the same day the Lord appeared to him. This was the sign
that would keep God’s people separate from the world for about the next 2000 years. It
was a sign of consecration to the Lord, that they were God’s peculiar people, set apart for
His glory and praise. This is exactly what baptism means for us as well today. It is a sign
that we are God’s people, that He owns us, that Christ died for us, if we truly believe in
Him. It is a sign that the Lord, having redeemed us, will never let us go, but keep us for
Himself throughout all eternity. But it is also a sign of separation, of holiness. It calls us
to be a peculiar people, a people for God’s praise. It calls us to have our hearts renewed by
the washing of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. It calls us to be holy, to separate ourselves
from the morals and practices, and even from close relationships with those who are of the
world. It calls us not to live for ourselves, but for God’s glory. The Lord calls us this
evening to examine our hearts to see if this is how we have been living, and if we haven’t,
to repent, and to renew our covenant to love Him and to walk in His ways. Let’s make
sure that we don’t just have the sign, but the reality, that we’re not simply washed with
water, but that our hearts have been washed by the renewal of the inner man by the Holy
Spirit. The sign won’t do us any good without the reality it pictures. Make sure that you
are trusting in Christ, and not just the symbols. Amen.